


War's Song : Hermitcraft A.U

by Powder404



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: All Hermits - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, DON'T SHIP REAL PEOPLE, F/F, F/M, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Persona shipping only, Supervillains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:28:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Powder404/pseuds/Powder404
Summary: When there is peace, there is a clear dividing line between righteousness and evil, angelic and demonic, good and bad. But when other factors come into play, such as an apocalypse, a war, an outbreak. Then the line between good and evil is blurred and it is mistaken or misinterpreted for survival.It's like saying if you're use to seeing death all around you, then you see nothing wrong with murder on the streets. But if you are use to seeing the law track down and bring all 'criminals' to justice, then you would feel anger towards the culprit.It's all about perspective.-*CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN*Welcome to a Hermitcraft A.U. A hero and villain A.U.AKA - Hermit HeroesCome and join the Hermits and their hero alias selves in "War's Song" as they figure out that the universe is much smaller than originally imagined.
Relationships: Everyone & Everyone, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, polyhermits
Comments: 25
Kudos: 65





	1. The Admin's Prologue

The void was cold and bitter. Unforgiving in punishment to all who managed to find themselves brought there. Though many would perish horribly in the emptiness, very few would thrive within.

The void may have been cold and bitter, but to the few, it provided protection, solitude and the most notable and most important feat-

Power.

-

The T.V blared, lighting up and filling the empty void silence with noise, a silence that would've driven any normal person mad. It was pretty much the only connection Xisuma had to the media of the planet, other than going there himself. But the planet was an odd one. It weakened him to an extent.

There were a lot of odd things that happened in, on and around the planet called Earth. It seemed to project its own kind of magic and cast it outward. Xisuma had been puzzled on the matter for a long time. He had logged question after question, openly seeking out answers for Earth days even Earth months at a time, only to return to his void home empty handed.

Sighing to himself, Xisuma turned his attention away from his 'small' project and towards the T.V.

A game show was playing, a game show that X may or may not have become hooked on when he had just picked up media, t.v and the internet. _"Questionnaire! A game show to test celebrities', people and leader's knowledge on the world!"_ Xisuma recalled in his mind. It seemed really fun, but he had a feeling he'd be pretty bad at it. He was bad at a lot of Earth things unfortunately.

The game show masters, Pixlriff and ZloyXP were currently 'testing' multiple people's knowledge on current world super heroes. Of course to Xisuma, he knew all the heroes that had been at work recently, including their main villains they've faced off against. But then again, there was always one he missed. This was one of the better ways to catch the ones he accidently didn't review thoroughly enough.

"Mary, can you tell us who this hero is?" Zloy asked, leaning closer to the microphone and giving a big smile towards the contestant.

The camera panned over to Mary. Mary was looking at an image of a bright red object in the night sky. It had the silhouette of a human and it had massive red wings on it's back, or what appeared like wings. The photo was slightly blurry but otherwise who she was looking at was obvious.

Xisuma frowned despite himself. "The Redstoner Reaction." He blurted out, as if Zloy and the other contestants would hear his answer. He knew they wouldn't.

Mary on the other hand, stumbled for a response. "Oh, that one's the-the newbie right?"

Zloy and Pixl both laughed and the live crowd laughed as well. Pixl looked at the camera in a humored disbelief, he still held his smile as he looked back at Mary. "Yes, you can call him a newbie. But what is his name?" Pixl asked.

Xisuma didn't see the moment as humorous. To be a hero but to not have people know your name was insulting. A name was someone's identity, whether it was an alias or not.

Xisuma tuned the next part out. _"Absolutely ridiculous." He thought. "I wonder what Reaction would think about this."_


	2. Chapter 1 : Grian's Mystery Catch

Life lessons are learned from the consistency of process. Some lessons require training, some require sacrifice, some require nothing. 

Life lessons are passed down one way or another. From the depths of hell to the stairs that scrape for heaven. No matter what, lessons come to people. 

-

"A bullet will always be faster once it's been fired." 

"Trust your gut. Don't stand around and get shot." 

"The clues are always there. You just have to look." 

"Always have a plan to unravel or kill everyone you meet. Or to shorten the phrase- trust no one." 

Essential lessons. That's what those sayings were, essential lessons. That's what's helped Grian get to where he was now. To be somewhat of the person he always wanted to be. Clever, witty, intelligent and the most socially knowledgeable person in the room. Of course all that came with the bitter price of forever being an outcast. For having to play dumb when around normal people so he could fit in. 

He sold his soul a long time ago. His mental sanity / stability was practically nonexistent and he was now in a new and unfamiliar massive city with no connections or ties to any residents. 

Yep, that's the situation Grian Xelqua was in. Basically homeless in one of the most technologically advanced cities on the planet, Retro-Sun. Grian found himself wandering the streets, going in circles as he searched for a place that he could call his own. Or at least for now, he just needed a roof over his head. 

It was nearly midnight, yet still so many cars and people were still awake, moving from destination to destination. 

_ "Retro-Sun, the city that doesn't sleep."  _ Grian thought as he turned right into an alleyway that went further back behind taller buildings. Retro-Sun was like many big cities, but it had more of a red lighting to it. 

Grian adjusted his coat, stuffing his hands into his pockets to help keep them warm. He held his head low as he passed a couple of people within the alleyway, all of them obviously sleeping or trying to sleep. Some of them were more or less wide awake. Grian couldn't blame them. Cities were dangerous if you didn't keep your guard up in the right neighborhoods and Grian had his fair share of dangerous run in's with those kinds of neighborhoods. 

Eying the area around, he looked around for an empty place to sit down and get some sleep before the next morning. Then he would start looking for a proper place and a job. 

The air was a bit colder, so preferably, Grian scanned around for a place right off the street area. Hopefully, he'd be able to keep warm enough with the help of that. 

Finally after determining a couple of factors. Grian plopped down against a building wall and pulled his legs closer to his body. He was next to a dumpster that had been locked in place. He was right next to another opening to the main streets. 

Curling up, Grian allowed himself to close his eyes. 

He could hear people walking quietly by, he could hear their footsteps and he could hear cars driving past in wisps of air. After a while Grian could feel his eyes become heavier and heavier. After a point, Grian was sure he fell asleep for some unknown period of time. It was peaceful for awhile. 

"I told you to bring a heavier coat bro." 

Grian flinched, his eyes fluttering open ever so slightly. He came met with two pairs of legs standing a good eight feet away from where he was. The first voice was quiet, in a near whisper. A male voice with a distinct accent. 

"I know dude, but I forgot!" A second voice whispered, this voice sounded more British. 

The first voice chuckled. "You're such a forgetful spoon, you know that right?" 

"Yes, I know. Thank you for the reminder." 

"You're ever so welcome. Now here." 

Grian could hardly see much in the darkness of the alleyway, but he could make out two shadowy bodies. One shorter and one taller. 

The shorter 'shadow' had taken off a coat and was trying to hand it to the taller figure. There was a weird green glow coming from this shadow’s head, possibly from it's eye. 

The taller figure who was nearly impossible to see, took a slight step back, bringing a hand up to wave it off. "No, Iskall, dude- I'm fine." 

The shorter figure, Iskall, stepped up closer in retaliation. "Just take the coat, MJ." 

MJ, the taller figure, grumbled something that Grian couldn't quite decipher. But MJ appeared to have reluctantly taken Iskall's coat and put it on with a huff. "People will talk." He proclaimed. 

"When do they never bro? Now come on." 

Grian listened as their footsteps continued down the alleyway. He didn't dare turn his head to watch them fully disappear. 

_ "MJ and Iskall. . . What an interesting pair."  _


	3. Chapter 2 : Villain Break Out

The difference between a true villain and a true hero were obvious but overly complicated after a certain point. True heroes were good people, they had zero flaws in the public's eyes and they protected those who couldn't protect themselves. True villains on the other hand were 'bad' people. They had every flaw in the public eye and they hurt others to get what they wanted. 

But then there were people who were trying to do what they could to either keep a loved one safe, their country intact or both at the same time. They weren't exactly heroes to the masses, but they weren't exactly villains to the masses either. These kinds of people were anti-heroes, bounty hunters, spies, hitmen, assassins and hackers. Soldiers in a different kind of frontline battle. A very shadowy frontline. 

These people took people out for the ones they loved, for their country, for their own personal gain. It may not result in the approval of the masses, but it helped a lower class.

Their lower class. 

-

Tonight was just like any other night in the maximum security prison in Retro-Sun. 

Docm77, aka The Lightning Thief to the media and Bolt to his villainous comrades, was laying down in his bed just starting to fall asleep for the night. Sun State's max security wasn't all that bad. Sure, Doc may have been forced to give up his mechanical right arm so he couldn't channel lightning but still- good lodging, decent food, tolerable people to converse with. Not all that bad. 

Or that's at least what he told himself. 

With his left arm brought up to have his hand resting under his head, Doc was almost asleep. But that got interrupted when the prison alarms started going off. 

Instantly, the Lightning Thief was now sitting up in his bed fully alert. 

From his glass screen that separated the other cells and all the halls from each other, Doc could see soldiers and officer wardens quickly sprinting down towards the entrance with a vast array of weapons. Some of the weapons Doc could recognize. The weapons that were made by the new hero Reaction. 

_ "Right, Reaction made tech for this place so the guards could protect themselves or something."  _ Doc recalled. 

Doc sighed, grumbling before slowly laying back down. "Stupid alarm, stupid sleep requirement." He muttered. 

Doc laid his head back down and shut his eyes. A few moments of silence passed and Doc almost smiled from it. He was gonna get to leave his cell and actually eat in the cafeteria tomorrow with FireStar and Hound. He would get to talk with Dubstep again and catch up and he'd- 

The sounds of gunfire and yelling erupted out again and Doc's eyes snapped open, a hard glare going across his features. This time they sounded closer but Doc honestly didn't care about the proximity. He just wanted to sleep. 

Groaning loudly, Doc rolled over and off his bed, landing in a crouched position. He then got up and stomped over to the glass screen and pounded on it with his fist. "Could you all shoot your guns a little quieter? Some of us wanna sleep damn it!" Doc shouted. 

Lights flashed on and off, more yelling erupted out then suddenly it went quiet and the lights remained off. 

Doc scrunched his eyes as confusion and curiosity filled his mind. "The hell?" 

Footsteps filled the hall. Doc could just make out a single figure marching down the hall. The figure was pretty short and appeared completely unarmed. They eventually walked in front of Doc's glass screen. 

The person was way shorter than Doc. Their face was completely hidden behind a black eyeless and mouthless mask, saved for one blue light that was over where the person's left eye would be. 

Doc's eyes then fell to the person's right arm. He felt his heart rate spike as he took a step back. 

The person lifted their right arm up, showing off some sort of ray weapon. A hum filled the air, then the glass screen that had kept Doc imprisoned, disappeared. 

"Come and make haste, we need to get a few more people out of their cells." The person ordered, throwing something at Doc with their left hand. 

A flash of silver, grey and red filled Doc's vision, then it suddenly felt like he had both limbs again. Which he confirmed as soon as he looked to his right. Once again placed over the empty space that he had for a limb was his mechanical arm. This time it was all shiny and new looking. The feeling of electricity and energy coursed through him and Doc felt absolutely alive. A grin formed on his face and he stepped out of his cell and to the other side of the now disappeared glass screen. His arm lit with power.

"Well, why didn't you just say so man? Let's go get them.” 

-

"Breaking news, a rogue attacker has broken into Sun State Prison and freed multiple criminals being held there. Reporter ZombieCleo is at the scene now. Miss Cleo, take it away." 

ZombieCleo stood straight, swiping her long red hair out of her face with her free hand and holding the microphone up to her mouth. She paused, then spoke. "Thank you Biffa. I'm here at Sun State's Maximum Security Prison where just last night, a single unarmed person practically waltzed in and rendered dozens of armed guards unconscious. The recordings of Sun State's security footage was blurred and for analysts, it was almost impossible to make out. Thankfully, the head warden has called out to two very capable people. Retro-Sun's very own Redstone hero, Reaction and Detective Grian Xelqua from Northwind. The two are on the scene now and taking a look into how this person could have possibly broken by themself, stay in tune as more information is coming your way.” 

Grian was slowly walking down the hall where the main break in point was. He was looking for different signs and different pieces of evidence that might possibly lead him to know more about the intruder. He was just calculating numbers when a red light illuminated the hall in front of him. Grian cocked a brow up before turning ever so slightly to see who it was. 

Walking down the hall towards him was a very tall, and very recognizable man. The Redstone hero, Reaction, followed by some police. Reaction was absolutely taller in person than the media showed him for, his red colored eyes seemed more bright and sparkly in person too. On his feet were weird looking boots that ended just below his knee joints. At his chest and arms were mechanical pieces of tech Grian had never seen before in his life and at his face was a dark grey band that visibly outlined the bottom of his jaw, than traced back behind his head and then up in front of his ears, practically brushed the far side of both his eyes and continued further up, though his black hair hid that part. Otherwise the hero had on a fully black colored jumpsuit with red highlights that streaked across each of his limbs. 

When Reaction’s eyes locked with Grian’s, he felt like he was a deer caught in headlights. Stars above, the hero was more stunning than on T.V. Had Grian not trained in the art of multitasking, he would’ve completely missed Reaction’s next few actions. 

“You must be Mister Xelqua.” Reaction had put his hand out to shake Grian’s once he was standing right in front of him, his eyes- to Grian- somehow sparked with more light, an amazed and starstruck expression only ever slightly colored the rest of his expression. “I love reading your mysteries and cases! I especially liked The Revolter’s Tale. It had different perspectives for the readers to see.” 

Grian himself had to take a moment to recollect himself. Did Reaction really read his case stories that got published? The second of the hesitation for the handshake became noticeable. 

One of the officers who had walked up with Reaction, Officer Pike, noticed the hesitation then looked at the hero. “Don't take it personally if he doesn’t wanna shake your hand.” The officer leaned slightly closer, using his hand to cover his mouth. “He’s kinda stuck up.” He whispered. 

Grian of course being himself took this as a challenge. He could properly socialize with others. Another millisecond clocked by before he fully turned to the hero and grasped the hero’s hand in his own and shook it. “I’ve seen your patrol route maps. Seventy-six by sixty-two. That’s impressive, the amount of ground you cover all the time. You do good work, thank you for it.” 

A smile creeped onto Reaction’s face, it showed pride and thanks at the same time which Grian only mildly envied. He shot the police a cocky look before dropping his hand and returning his mind to the case at hand. 

“Reaction, if you would follow me. I need a few answers to some questions.” 

“Of course.” 

The two walked down the hall towards the empty cells, staying side by side and remaining at somewhat similar strides to each other. 

“Do you have a list of the villains the rogue freed? The police didn't give me one.” Grian questioned, staring straight ahead as to not become distracted. 

Reaction took a deep breath before snapping his right hand’s fingers. A blue holoscreen monitor flashed up. “Firestar, a powerful pyromancer that was locked away nearly four years ago by the Boulder, the Boulder’s final villain before he was put out of commission by the Lightning Thief. Dubstep, a sonic type villain put in Sun State by the Admin, as well as Hound, Shadow Assassin, Frozen Emperor, Reaper, the Trickster and then finally-” 

“The Lightning Thief.” Grian cut the hero off, completing the sentence. “The one you put in almost two years ago from now.” 

Reaction blinked, seemingly flinching at the memory. He looked down at the detective and the two locked eyes again. “Oh you-you saw that?” 

Grian looked up at the hero, sighing mentally and feeling a slight pang of pity. “I'm pretty sure the whole world saw it go down.” 

Silence. 

Grian then drew in another breath and spoke again. "Are you doing alright after that? Or- af-after the fight?" 

Reaction hesitated before putting on a bright smile. "Of course! I'm doing just fine!" 

The bright flashy smile was fake, it was painfully obvious. It hurt Grian to a point to know that even a hero like Reaction would try to cover something like trauma up. But Reaction was an open book to the detective. Grian could unravel the man, completely call him out on the lie. But he didn't. 

The two looked away from each other and opted to look straight ahead. Both of them fell silent before the topic switched again to the case. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doc really do be trying to get some sleep istg- he's trying, I promise-


	4. Chapter 3 : Hidden Memories

The mind plays tricks on those who are inexperienced. It’s an interesting thing, the mind. Many say it’s the window to the unimaginable, to the undiscovered, and to the ideas and desires of the human being. The mind holds many secrets, embarrassing ones, dark ones; secrets filled with sorrow and suffering, secrets filled with trauma. 

Some do good at repressing the trauma and locking it away, never to see it again unless triggered by another unwise soul. Some do horribly at repressing trauma. They make a scene then they die. That was how the mind worked, that's how the mind always worked. 

-

Everything Hunter remembered was completely consumed by bright lights and beeps. Do this, do that. Kill him, kill her. It was all just organized actions and movements specifically told to do harm and damage. The irony of that statement was that the order and execution came so easily. Get assigned to a target, then after a while neutralize them. Easy as that. 

But this particular person, this particular target threw him off. This target was so much more than just that. This target was… Someone incredibly special. And not just a kind of special that was a one time thing, this special, was every damn time they faced in Hunter's general direction and smiled, or made any kind of facial expression at him. 

Stars above what was he going to do about this one? 

-

Iskall's day was very simple. Get up, take a shower if needed, get dressed, leave his apartment, grab a bite to eat and then head over to Mumbo's apartment to make sure he got up for the day. Easy as that, a simple routine. After that Iskall would follow the man around for a bit, leave, come back after a while to check in, hang out some more then rinse and repeat.

Yep, simple. 

If anyone ever asked when they met or how they had met, Iskall would tell them the same thing. "It was like the universe told it to happen." And in a twisted way it did decree that. The universe also found Iskall wandering in the direction of Mumbo's place; simply spacing out. Iskall didn't even mean for it to happen most of the time, it just did. 

Iskall continued to mindlessly wander down the sidewalk of the bustling city. Car horns honked and peers greeted each other on the sidewalks. Everything was normal, everything was fine and in its place. 

Iskall passed some news anchors covering some of the latest new things, such as stores and restaurants. Iskall himself recognized one of the news women from the television, a reporter named ZombieCleo who worked for the Retro-Sun Gazette. The Swede would've stopped to take a closer listen in but he had to check on Mumbo. Maybe he would if they were still there. 

Finally reaching the apartment condo that Mumbo resided in, Iskall entered and began to make his way through the winding halls of the apartment condo. Arriving at his friend’s door, Iskall brought his left hand up and knocked on it four times, loud and firmly. 

“Mumbo? It’s Iskall, you awake dude?” Iskall called out, waiting. He then quietly craned his head sideways and leaned closer to the door listening for any sounds that might have depicted movement. Nothing.

The Swede gave another four firm knocks on the door. “Mumbo?” Iskall then tested the door, turning the knob ever so slightly.

Locked. 

Iskall sighed despite himself. “Mumbo I’m coming in” He warned before pulling out a spare key that Mumbo had given him. The key was for ‘emergencies’ MJ had told him. Just in case he needed anything or if he didn't open his door. 

Iskall placed the key within the doorknob and cranked it to the right in one full rotation, then cranked it back to the left in three full rotations. The Swede then pulled out the key and rotated the knob cleanly with no stops. Iskall took a deep breath as he held the knob within his right hand before pushing the door open and walking in. 

“Mumbo?” 

Iskall scanned the room. There was no sign of his friend inside. There were newspapers spread out on the coffee table that was in the small living room in front of a sofa. Iskall hesitantly walked further in and let the door shut behind him with a click to let him know the latch was now locked in the wall. 

Approaching the coffee table closer, the newspaper headlines became more clear. They were all from the Retro-Sun Gazette. They all covered villains, attacks and possible conspiracy theories, dating all the way back to The Boulder’s first appearance, way back in seventy eight. The newest or latest paper was yesterdays. The Gazette had gotten a photo of Detective Grian Xelqua and Reaction shaking hands with each other for the front page, smiling fondly at each other. Lucky bastards. 

Iskall shook his head. A temperature drop became terribly noticeable and it caused Iskall to shiver in his place. Did Mumbo forget to check his thermostat? Shaking his head, Iskall wandered away from the coffee table and over to the thermostat to turn up the heat. 

Reaching his destination, Iskall had his right arm up to the thermostat tonturn up the heat when the ground started to shake and tremble. Gasping, Iskall withdrew his hand, his eyes widened as he exhaled. He could now see his breath in the air. 

Spinning around on the balls of his feet, Iskall looked out the window, seeing the reason for the huge decline in temperature. “Holy shit.” 

Just outside the window was a huge ass icicle and it wasn't just one. There were many. Iskall could hear people shouting and screaming now. The Swede felt his body fill with adrenaline and an equal amount of terror. Iskall found himself sprinting through the rest of Mumbo’s apartment. 

“Mumbo? Mumbo!” Iskall called out. After checking and double checking all the rooms, Iskall returned to the living room finding no one. Iskall took one last look out the window before sprinting towards the door and exiting Mumbo’s apartment. 

  
If Mumbo wasn’t here, then he was outside with whatever the hell kind of villain decided to pop up this time. 


	5. Chapter 4 : Shards and Ice

The bitter cold is a deadly killer, even to those prepared and equipped. Snow leaves nothing behind, ice breaks through and carves away everything given enough time. The things in the cold can do nothing as the frosted temperature claws away the heat and saps away their strength. 

The cold is a silent killer, efficiently wiping out everything that gets caught within its talons. Little can be done about it except to pray to your god that you're strong enough to last. 

-

Reaction flew above the skyscrapers just a couple of blocks from the main cold front. Massive ice shards littered the ground below, people screamed and fled the area. They all appeared to be running away from the same point, most likely from the source of the beginning attacks. He could see the wind starting to blow against the ice shards and he could tell that the area was going to cool down rapidly. 

The redstone hero flew down and landed on the ground. People ran past him and around him, fleeing from the area. Reaction shivered at the temperature drop but he pressed forward, going towards the area that people were fleeing from. 

The cold became more and more noticeable. Another figure was somewhat at the center of the cold front and it was walking forward at a consistent pace. The figure was shorter looking and less like an athlete and more like a regular civilian. 

Reaction approached and eventually met the person in the middle of Fiddilson Street. The wind whipped his hair around and the ice that blew off the massive shards felt like blizzard snow, forcing him to squint his eyes. The civilian’s features were nearly impossible to dispict. Though Reaction could see one color. Pink. And a lot of it. It seemed like the person was wearing a pink jacket and shoes. Not boots, shoes. The two eventually stopped, standing a good distance from each other. 

Reaction held one hand up near his eyes to shield them from the blowing shrapnel of snow. He held his free arm near his midsection to try and keep his remaining body heat. "Hello? Can you hear me?" He shouted over the wind. 

The pink clothed civilian didn't reply, but they did start to walk forward again. Reaction adjusted his stance as to not topple over, he could feel his body start to shiver on its own to keep itself warm. Perhaps the person couldn't hear him? What if they're hurt? They could need medical attention from a cold front like this. 

Reaction sucked in a deep breath, feeling the sting of freezing air burn his lungs. He started to approach the person, shouting out. "My name is Reaction, I've come to help you!" 

The wind whipped across Reaction, practically forcing him to look away for a brief moment. When his vision returned to the same spot, the person was gone. Completely invisible in the wind. And for a moment, Reaction thought he had just imagined the civilian. The wind died down and the redstone hero could hear himself think. 

A second ticked by and the cold front returned. A pink blur had rushed up and Reaction found himself staring down a pale, drawn back fist. Reaction hardly had enough time to draw up his arms to block said punch. The hero felt the force of the blow, and he felt his body suddenly get blasted with an intense amount of cold. The oxygen left his lungs as his back hit the ground. 

Letting out a groan, the Redstone hero shivered, exhaling out before forcing his body to get back up on its feet. It was now that he managed to get a good look at his attacker. His eyes widened. 

His opponent was a very short woman. Or at least to him. The woman had a pink long sleeve jacket and pink sports shoes. She also had jeans shorts on that went down to the tops of her knees. Her lips were slightly blue and her jacket was dusted with snow and frost. She had brown hair that mostly covered the right side of her face which too was freezing over with frost. 

"Ma'am-" Reaction started. He felt like he was wheezing from inhaling so much cold air. He had to be careful or he could go into shock. “-You need to calm down. I’m not going to hurt you! I  _ don't  _ want to hurt you!” 

The woman exhaled, a steady mist came out of her mouth, showing Reaction that her body temperature must have still been normal. She then let out a couple of giggles, bringing up her fists which frosted over to take the appearance of ice cold boxing gloves. “Oh but I wanna hurt  _ you _ !” 

Reaction swallowed a lump that had formed in the back of his throat and licked his cold lips. “Oh how pleasant.” He muttered out loud to himself. 

The woman giggled, which would’ve been counted as cute had she not been threatening bodily harm to her opponent. Her two cold brown eyes suddenly changed from brown to a threatening blue in the span of a millisecond. “Sources say that you’ve been getting some attention. So… how about we give them a show? Just like you and The Lightning Thief gave them two years ago.” 

Reaction felt his eyes widen at the memory but he roughly shoved it back within his mind and stood at the ready for a defence and attack. A black box at the side of the lady’s head- more specifically her temple- caught his attention. And he would’ve processed the information more had the woman not made a lung for him. 

-

Police had barricaded all roads heading to Fiddleson Avenue, Margret’s Street and Lesson’s Drive. Leaving Grian stuck in one of the most crowded areas he had ever been in in his life and he absolutely hated it. He wanted an explanation, but he couldn’t get to an officer to ask. News anchors were parked all over the place; they were parallel with buildings, they were parked lopsided on curbs and even parked in the middle of the street. 

From where he was, Grian could hear officers telling people to continue moving away from the barricades and closer to the outskirts of Retro-Sun. He could also hear people shouting for each other, such as their kids or significant others. Though one voice caught Grian’s ear the most. 

“MJ? MJ! Where are you dude?” 

Grian shut everything else out, all the people near him, all the people that were crowding his personal space; he blocked it all out and scanned the area around him the best he could for that one voice. He recognized that voice from his night in the alleyway. Pushing and dodging his way through the sea of giants he eventually came to a break in the crowd. It was here where he could see the man who had caught his attention. 

A man with brown hair and a brown beard was quickly walking around to every free news anchor and asking them questions. His left eye was covered with a green glowing tech bit and he looked in a panic, wearing a heavier looking coat and some more appropriate shoes for the dropping temperature. The jacket was a dark gray color with dark green accents and his boots were different shades of brown. 

“Please have you seen my friend? He’s tall, black hair, brown eyes, usually wears dress clothes? Kinda baby faced? His name is Mumbo Jumbo. Have you seen him?” The man begged another woman, a woman with long, bright red / orange colored hair. 

The woman reporter gave the man- Iskall, Grian recalled- an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I haven't. But I’ll keep an eye out for him yeah?” 

Grian distinctly remembered that specific reporter. She was the one who managed to snap a photo of him and Reaction shaking hands after they had just finished wrapping up the break in scene. Reporter ZombieCleo. That’s what her name was. The short detective watched as Iskall put a hand to his head and gave a brief nod of thanks to her before turning around to head off to another free reporter. 

It was here where Grian advanced up on the other man. He reached out and snagged on to Iskall’s jacket sleeve, giving it a mild tug. The taller man turned around and locked eyes with Grian, who had to look up at the Swede. Grian’s blue eyes locked with Iskall’s mechanical and real green eyes. 

“I can help you find your friend, Iskall.” Grian stated bluntly, gripping onto the man’s jacket sleeve a bit tighter. Grian watched the other man’s face twist with confusion with a hint of offence. 

“How do you know my-” 

“I’m detective Grian Xelqua from Northwind-” Grian snapped, cutting the taller man off. “-of course I know your name. You’re looking for your friend Mumbo Jumbo right?” A pause of strained tension filled the gap of silence and became noticeable hesitation and uncertainty, much to Grian’s mild annoyance. He wanted to help damn it, couldn’t Iskall see that? “Right?” Grian hissed out, becoming impatient. 

Iskall glanced around before finally appearing to have caved from the pressure. “Yes, I am.” The Swede tugged his arm free from Grian’s grip, taking one step back to create some space before continuing. “But I'm worried that he might still be on some of the streets the police have blocked off.” 

Grian surveyed the barricades, taking note of every officer and every civilian near all the possible routes he and Iskall could take. “I can get you past. But I’m coming with you.” Grian stated firmly, looking back up at Iskall. 

Iskall visibly cringed at the demand. He shot an annoyed look down at the detective and opened his mouth to retort back but he was interrupted by the wind howling through the air and the feeling of an earthquake beneath their feet. 

The crowded area full of people started to panic. The wall of what appeared to be a blizzard became visible just down on Lesson’s Drive. People started to back up in fear, some just straight up turned around and bolted away. Others remained where they were. Iskall and Grian were among the people who remained in place. Within the blizzard wall, those who remained could see faint flashes of red and cyan through the grey / white storm. 

First red got more intense, than cyan, than red again, than finally cyan. The faint color of red completely vanished from sight and those who were watching started to tremble and shiver. What felt like a millisecond later, the red light came back, but this time it wasn’t in the blizzard wall, it had been projectiled at the barricades. 

Police jumped out of the way just as a body crashed into one of the barricades. The barricades fell over and a nearly frozen over, and recognizable redstone superhero fell past them, falling into the “safety area” where the civilians stood on his side. 

Grian immediately found himself rushing over to the hero, with Iskall hot on his heels. The two had run up and immediately crouched down by the hero, helping pull him up. Reaction was cold to the touch, frost was covering his hands and spreading like a disease up his arms. His torso and chest also looked shot at a bunch of times with ice and he was trembling like mad. White streaks had even made themselves apparent in his jet black hair and mustache. Even his face was starting to be covered in frost. 

Grian looked up at the hero with concern. “Are you ok?” He asked, his teeth chattering from the fourth temperature drop he felt since standing outside. Iskall visibly shivered next to the hero but had started to try- in vain- to brush some of the frost off the man. 

Reaction coughed hoarsely, trembling and shaking. Icy fingers weakly gripped onto each of the two men’s jacket/coat sleeves, trying to remain upright. His classic and usual vibrant red eyes had become dull and drained. “I-I… I c-can take-” 

Grian didn't hear the hero finish his sentence, as the detective found himself shoved to the ground. His back suddenly felt like it had been scorched with a flamethrower, even though it was a blast of frozen air. It stung like mad and it made Grian’s body lock up. Gods, how did Reaction withstand that much cold? 

Grunting out in pain and tension, Grian slowly managed to turn his head over to Reaction and the thing that had attacked him. His eyes widened as he saw Reaction still standing but with a red like energy shield at his hands. There was currently pure, elemental ice being fired at the red shield like a ray weapon at said shield and Reaction appeared to be straining against it. 

The detective could see Iskall on the ground as well on the other side of Reaction, slowly rising to his feet. From Grian's position, he could see something at the other man's hip which caused the detective to subconsciously reach down at his own hip to place a chilly hand on the butt end of an unused handgun. 

Iskall and Grian both locked eyes. Grian could feel a dangerous amount of energy start to course through his body. An energy he had not felt for quite some time. 

The detective watched as Iskall started to also reach his hand down to grab his own handgun. He watched as the green eyed man started to pull out the firearm. It took Grian a moment to realize that he was copying the action. 

Another beat. He didn't remember moving to a different position and taking aim at the villain attacking Reaction; or even fully getting up from his stomach. But he heard two gunshots go off. One further away and one that could have only been from him. 

A scream rang out, and out of the corner of his eye, Grian saw Reaction summon some sort of red glowing spear and chuck it at the attacker. A shriek went out and a bright flash of colors forced Grian to look away. 

Two bodies collapsed to the icy ground. 

Grian let out a rough exhale after realizing he had been holding it in. He ducked his nose and mouth within his jacket collar, breathing in the warm humidified air instead of the dry cold air. He shut his eyes tightly, groaning out in pain from the ice blast that had- 

Grian shot his eyes open again and quickly looked back over to Reaction then scrambled to his feet. 

Iskall was already at the hero's side, holding the hero upright with one arm while just finishing taking off his jacket with his free arm. The green eyed man shivered before pulling the hero close to his chest and wrapping his coat over Reaction's shoulders. 

"Hey!" Iskall called out, slightly shaking the barely responsive hero. "Hey stay awake will ya?" 

Grian quickly went over to the two and knelt down on the other side of Reaction, hastily taking off his jacket as well. 

Reaction was hardly responsive. His lips and eyelids had turned blue and his skin had turned a near deathly pale color. His black hair was almost a grey-white now and his eyes were completely faded out. The only way Grian could tell the hero was still alive was because the man was still shivering. 

Reaction brought both of his limp arms up across his chest and took hold of Iskall's jacket, appearing to subconsciously draw it in closer around himself. Otherwise the rest of his body remained still. 

After taking off his jacket and 'manning' up after he braced the cold, Grian went and draped his jacket over Reaction's front, covering the hero's chest and arms. The bottom part of the jacket ever slightly covered the hero's legs but this would only be temporary. 

In the distance and getting ever closer, Grian could hear police sirens and ambulance sirens blaring and making a ruckus. The detective looked at Iskall before standing up to get ready to flag down an ambulance. 


	6. Chapter 5 - End Of Act 1

Some story endings usually don't truly end. They get carried along by retellings and recreations. Some story ends can even be the start of a brand new chapter in someone’s life. Though one must be careful when deciding something like this. As the path that's taken in a lifetime like this might not even happen in another. 

Some stories may appear flawed, broken or unnatural and any attempt at fixing it simply breaks it further, until the people that started it no longer function the way destiny wants them too. In a scenario like that, the universe would disperse and become nothing but void. In other instances, a story can expand out to far that all original aspects are completely forgotten about and erased. Leaving no core group or reference for that particular universe to draw to. That universe would be doomed to collapse in on itself. 

Let's hope neither event happen. 

-

Mumbo stood in a light grey trench coat, his hands stuffed within the coat pockets. Where he was standing was in front of the apartment complex that he used to live in. But that was completely encased in an icicle. Other people were standing around him, making phone calls and conversing with loved ones in person. 

Mumbo simply stood in silence, waiting for… two- people in particular. Ducking his nose within the collar of his coat, Mumbo shivered and tensed up, shutting his eyes tightly. He still couldn’t feel the majority of his body but yet here he was, standing out in the cold like a moron. 

“Hey, you look cold.” 

Mumbo felt himself flinch and he reopened his eyes as a warm hand went and placed itself on his shoulder. The black haired man looked to his left, seeing a very familiar Swede and a shorter man standing a ways behind him, watching on. With a smile and lighter feeling of relief, Mumbo let out a chuckle. “Iskall!” The black haired man exclaimed, turning fully towards the other man. He then went and embraced the shorter man in a tight hug. “Thank gods you're alright!” 

Iskall noticeably flinched, but he did hug Mumbo back, rubbing small circles in the taller man's back. “Of course I’m alright dude. Why wouldn’t I be?” 

Mumbo pulled away from Iskall, looking down at him. His eyes scrunched into a confused frown. “Iskall, you're all over the news. Haven’t you seen?” 

“Technically not.” Mumbo and Iskall both blinked before turning around to face the shorter man that had come up with Iskall. This man had Strawberry blonde hair and lovely blue colored eyes. The man visibly froze when the other two taller men turned to him. He gave a weak smile and chuckle. “We’ve… been too busy trying not to freeze our asses off.” 

Mumbo stared at the shorter man, his jaw dropping ever so slightly. “Holy damn.” MJ’s gaze then looked back to Iskall. “Dude that's seriously-”

The Swede sighed before gesturing for the detective to come up. He also reached up with his free hand and pushed Mumbo's jaw back up. “Yes, MJ. That's seriously Detective Xelqua. Please act semi normal and try not to fanboy too much." 

"Hey!" 

The shorter detective sheepishly walked closer up to them, scratching the back of his head. “Please, Grian is just fine.” Grian took a silent, deep breath before speaking again. “And you must be Mumbo Jumbo.” 

The mustached man smiled brightly, jerking his head away from Iskall's hand and turning to face Grian fully once again. “It’s an honor to meet you, truely!” 

Grian gave a light laugh, looking up at the much taller and thin man. “It's funny, you're the second person to say something similar like that to me in under the span of a week.” 

“Really? Who was the first?” Mumbo questioned, his head cocking to the side. Iskall looked at the detective as well with his own curious look. 

Grian gazed at the two taller men, his mind oddly spinning. “The man who just helped save the city from that frozen attacker.” 

Iskall gave a hearty laugh. “Reaction did? That's cool. Reaction seems like a nice guy.” 

Mumbo sucked in a deep breath before turning towards the apartment condo building. “On that note about a frozen attacker…” The two other men looked up at him before turning their gazes to the apartment condo as well. Mumbo continued. “Did an icicle hit either of your places?” 

Iskall let out a defeated sigh. “Yeah. The attacker hit every single apartment and home residents on Fiddleson, Margret’s, and Lessons. A lot of the foundations have been disturbed, making whole buildings unstable and too dangerous for people to live there for a while. That is until the icicles are removed by other heroes or until the icicles melt.” 

Mumbo gave a sigh. “Well, there goes a month of business plans and meetings.” Light brown eyes then trailed over to the short detective. “What about you? Do you have a place still?” 

Grian flinched, hesitating and looking down at his feet. “I… well I didn't exactly have anywhere to go in the first place…” 

Iskall’s green eyes widened. “What? So you’ve just been on the streets?” 

Grian gave a wordless shrug as he shuffled his feet like a child who just got busted. Mumbo visibly frowned. “For how long?” 

The detective paused, thinking for a moment as four eyes gazed intently on him. “Umm… for at least four days… I only just got in the city.” 

A silence fell upon the three men as they all faced the massive icicle-building mash. People around them continued to roam and do their own thing to try and sort out their own messes. The seconds ticked down before Mumbo finally opened his mouth and broke the silence. 

“Well, we could all just find a medium sized apartment and share it. It’d cut down rent for us all and it’d give us all a place to stay so- you know! None of us are out on the street in the cold and none of us are without company.” Mumbo paused. “I-I mean- if you both are ok with it! I respect your choice if you decide you don't want to but- you could say the pros outweigh the cons!” He added quickly. 

The Swede and the shorter brit both looked at each other then back to the taller brit. It was clear Mumbo thought it'd be an excellent setup, but Iskall and Grian also had their own separate lives. Besides, the three have only really been together as a 'trio' for about- five minutes. 

Iskall and Mumbo had known each other for awhile, and the mustached man had already brought up the idea to share an apartment. But Iskall declined due to other situations. But this current situation was completely different from the situation he was in before. 

But to Grian, it felt like he had already met Mumbo and known him for way longer. The detective would have originally politely declined but… the weird mysteries that surrounded these two people in particular was too intriguing to not try and figure out. 

Drawing in a breath, Grian spoke first. "I'm… I'm fine with that idea. If… neither of you both mind having to live with me." 

Iskall after another second gave a sigh of defeat after calculating some options. "Yeah, sure. That'd work with me too." 

Mumbo grinned brightly. “Awesome!” 

Iskall sighed, shaking his head. But the shaking of his head and disapproving motion didn't at all prevent a smile from creeping on the man's face. "Dude, people are really gonna talk." 

Grian laughed a bit, putting his arm out in front of himself and holding it above his head. "I can see the headline now. Local gun owners and business owner all move in together." 

Mumbo burst out laughing. 

-

“StressMonster101, correct?” 

Stress took a deep breath in before exhaling. She nodded. Her throat was dry and her head hurt like utter hell. “Yes. That's me sir.” Stress was currently sitting in a metal chair in a type of interrogation room. Her arms were on the table that was in front of her and she was now in a different outfit. She could tell her brown hair needed to be brushed through just by glancing at it. 

The redstone hero she had nearly killed was sitting in front of her with his hands folded neatly on the table. He sat tall and appeared relatively calm. “Please, no need for formalities. Reaction is fine." 

Stress stared down at her pale hands, clenching them into fists. “Sorry.” 

“No need to apologize either. You didn't know.” 

Stress licked her lips. “So-” She cut herself off, falling silent. She kept her head down, hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible. She just wanted to know if she'd serve a sentence or not. 

Reaction looked better. His face once again had color and his hair and mustache were no longer painted white with snow. But he did have bandages wrapped around his hands. The hero calmly drew in a breath and spoke. “Do you remember what happened before you took to the streets?” 

Stress strained her memory. She dug through everything she could, searched the depth of her mind. Nothing. She shook her head. “No. I don't remember anything.” 

Reaction frowned. “Ok… well, do you by chance recognize these two people?” 

Stress hesitated before looking up. Reaction had placed a couple of photos on the table and angled them so she could see them properly.

There was a man in the left photo. A mug shot. He looked mean and tough, bearing several deep looking scars over his lips and right cheek. His eyes were light brown and his skin was slightly tan, otherwise he looked somewhat Scottish or Irish. He was from somewhere up north. 

The photo on the right had another person, though this time not a mug shot. This person was walking down a hallway with The Lightning Thief, Dubstep, Firestar and a couple of other villains Stress couldn't really recognize at that moment. The other person was shorter and had on all black, including a black hat. The only thing that wasn't black was an eerie blue light that was coming from their eye and a silver right arm. 

Stress frowned, scrunching her face. She shook her head again. “No. I don't.” 

Reaction drew in a deep, defeated sounding breath before drawing the photos away. “Ok… last question. Do you recognize this symbol?” 

The two photos of the people were replaced by a single photo of a symbol. The symbol was a circle in a square with three different heads on a single body. The right head clearly a dragon head and the left head appeared to be a vex. But the middle head appeared to be a human head with wings coming out of the top of it. Inside the middle head was yet another weird looking symbol that left Stress feeling more and more confused. On the outside of the circle were tools and weapons. Each item was parallel with the square sides. At the top of the square running horizontal was a sword, at the right running vertical was a hammer, at the bottom, a wrench and at the left a potion bottle. 

Drawing in a breath, Stress spoke. “The right head is a dragon head and the left head is a vex head. The items in the square represent the olden day's core task forces. A guard, laborer, engineer and spellcaster." 

Reaction gazed intently at Stress. It felt like he was reading her very soul with the kind of piercing eyes he had. “Ok. What about the middle head? What do you conclude about it?” 

Stress looked back up at the hero, giving a weak shrug. “I’m not sure… a human head with wings sprouting out the top of it? I don't know. It has… it has a bedrock symbol in it too, or at least I think it's a bedrock symbol.” 

Reaction drew back in his seat, appearing deep in thought. “A bedrock symbol… that seems so familiar, but where have I…" he trailed off and fell silent. 

The silence stretched between them and Stress fiddled with her thumbs. After another couple of moments, Reaction spoke up again. “Thank you. That's it for questions. Now- do you have any questions of your own?” 

Stress met the hero’s red eyes. “One. Am I going to go to prison?” 

Reaction paused before he replied. “No. Because the device that I knocked off your head proves that you weren’t in control. Besides…” Reaction stood up to walk out of the interrogation room. “The world could always use more heroes.” 

Stress flinched, looking up at Reaction. She scoffed, giving the man a half bullshitted grin. “You think I’d be good hero material?” 

Reaction gave the woman a smile. “You’ve got what it takes. There's always someone who needs help. And there are always people who want to hurt others for their own gain. Having someone who I know is gonna be out there, fighting for people who can't fight for themselves is always a win.” 

Stress looked back down at the table, going silent. 

Reaction sighed. “Just think about it, yeah? An agent will give you a contact. Give us a ring if you wanna know more. Ok?” 

Then without another word, the redstone hero walked out. 

_ "The world could always use more heroes."  _


	7. Chapter 6 : Bigger Threat

There's always a bigger fish in the sea. Always a bigger enemy. You may think you're the best at something, but someone is always going to have a one up on you, one way or another. 

Some don't take this lightly. Some see this as a very personal threat which would only hinder them more. It would either cause a kind of toxic behavior of competition or cause that original person to stop doing what they're doing and become incompetent. 

Those who walk through life with the mindset of 'someone will always be better at something' and learn to positively understand and learn- will better themselves and those around them. 

Let's hope that's how it works. 

-

The heavy warehouse doors creaked when they opened once again. This showed they had not been in use for quite some time. The Alchemist smiled at that. That meant that no one's come barging in since The Lightning Thief was put out. But now The Lightning Thief was out of prison thanks to some other outside country force. Meaning Bolt would be looking for a place to flee and regain positioning. Which meant Bolt would be coming to him for assistance. 

The Alchemist grinned to himself before stepping into the warehouse and shutting the massive door behind him. His mechanical feet clicked with each step as he strode across the warehouse floor with a familiar feeling of confidence. The warehouse was still the same old place. All of the Alchemist's projects were still intact and all his gear remained untouched and in their places collecting dust. 

Alchemist walked deeper within the place, going along and gently brushing his mechanical fingers across the dusty surfaces. Old projects. Prototype time machines, energy stealers, emps, bombs. If anyone were to name it, he would have probably already started making it. Alchemist had tech here that could- no-  _ would absolutely destroy _ Reaction's baby tech. 

The Alchemist frowned before sitting down in a swivel chair that was chilling near a desk. Alchemist rolled back in it, spinning in a full 360 multiple times before stopping and returning to face forward at the desk. Littered across the desk were blueprints, notes to selves, supplement drop off and drop in locations, etc. Of course these were literally all nearly two years old since every minor villain and major gang went on the fucking fritz when word got out that Bolt went down. It truly must have wounded the doctor's pride to have someone as naive as Reaction beat him in a fight. 

Alchemist let out a mock chuckle. "Oh Doc, you bit off a bit more than you could chew with that one didn't you?" 

"Obviously." 

A surge of adrenaline spiked through the Alchemist. The cyborg spun around on the swivel chair, holding up his right arm and putting his hand into a position where his palm was exposed. Both of his palms had two glass circles sitting in the middle of them, and they both lit with light. 

The Alchemist stared for a good second. "Stormy? Is that you?" 

Leaning against the wall a ways away from the Alchemist was none other than Docm, The Lightning Thief. He was dressed in navy blue jeans and a dark hoodie, most likely to blend into the dark. His real and mechanical eyes both shined with confidence and his usual cocky attitude. 

The villain grinned, showing off his shiny and sharp looking teeth. "Miss me, Alchemist?" 

The Alchemist lowered his arm and rose to his feet. His repulser powered down, and a huge grin went across his features as he and Doc both walked up to each other. 

"Oh you have no idea you insane bastard." 

As the two started conversing and talking with one another, they both turned away from the warehouse entrance, blissfully unaware of a silent, dark winged figure standing above them on a warehouse supporting beam that was high above the floor. Listening to everything they discussed. 

-

"Where do you plan to go next, Mr. Goodtimes? All of your opponents have taken some more key cities, such as Northwind, The Citadel, and Starfrost." 

GoodTimesWithScar, a candidate for the coming up Senate Election, sat in his office at his desk. The lights were dimmed and the door was locked. He couldn't think, couldn't focus. These next couple of election months would be the end of his campaign if he didn't get another key city on his side soon. 

With a heavy sigh, Scar put his face in his hands, closing his eyes. "My end plan was to go to London, but that would be difficult. Not to mention all the cities we'd pass on the way there." 

Scar's electoral supervisor merely shook his head, sighing. "I know you want to get to London, but right now you need more supporters." 

"I am aware of that. I was hoping to get to London before any of the other candidates but that'd be spending money we don't have at the moment." Scar went and placed his head down on his desk. "Maybe I should drop out of the Senate race." 

Scar's electoral supervisor immediately was up at the candidate's desk. He slammed his hands down on the wooden surface. "Don't say that Mr. Goodtimes! We can still win! You can't give up hope now!" 

Scar jolted, he brought his head back up off his desk, looking up at the other. "But how! What other key cities are close enough- or even larger enough for that matter- to make a difference?" 

The supervisor grinned after a moment of silence. He then pulled out a folded piece of paper from out of his coat pocket and placed it on the candidates desk in front of him. "This one." 

Scar looked up at his supervisor warily. He then looked down at the folded piece of paper before hesitantly picking it up and unfolding it. He read over its contents. 

"Central villain attacks, un-kept buildings, uneven land, prone for natural disasters…" Scar licked his lips before meeting his supervisor's eyes again. "Are you sure they'll get behind me, Cub?" 

Cubfan135 practically grinned from ear to ear, showing off his white looking teeth. "With a disaster zone of a city like that? Offer the right stuff to them and they'll follow you to the ends of the earth." 

Scar set the paper back on his desk, flattening it out with his hands. "How are you for sure? This is a very technical city. I don't know anything about tech! I can hardly change the fonts on my email, Mr. Cubfan!" 

Cub chuckled. "You might not, but he does." Cub pulled another paper out of another one of his coat pockets. This time it was a newspaper photo taken from the city's newspaper. "He knows that city and it's tech like the back of his hand." 

The Senate candidate looked down at the newspaper photo. "How many papers do you have in your pockets?"

"That's not important, Mr. Goodtimes." 

A pause floated in the air. 

Scar took a deep breath then exhaled. He looked up at Cubfan from his chair. "Very well. We'll head there next." 


	8. Chapter 7 - Proposals and Propositions

Deals are made by- at a minimum- two people. Those people place several things on an imaginative table and offer them to each other by word or document. Those offerings are then presented as sorts of bargaining chips to benefit themselves or someone else. Like an election. 

The candidate places several things on an imaginative table and announces what they are willing to do to be seated at a higher power of sorts. If the second participant, aka the people of the electee, agrees and likes the items and claims placed up, that candidate will have a higher chance of being elected or reelected. 

Now in a deal, both parties are supposed to keep their word. This goes for everything, information, jobs, trades, marketing, etc. All that trust is placed on those two parties. 

But we all know that trust is difficult to come by. 

-

A dark winged figure stood on a shadowed covered rooftop. This person was draped in a dark purple cloak that fell short of their elbow joints. An EB cuffling at each end decorated it, along with a button with the same initials. A black t-shirt and pants covered their body and two dark purple wings sat limply behind them. The wings had a single giant eye on the inside of each wing, along with a weird symbol at each top muscle part. A black halo circled their head and a glowing light purple mask obscured their facial features. The only major significant color change was their hair, which was a dirty blond color. The same symbol that littered their body was larger and it was colored white on their mask. 

The figure gazed down upon a concentrated crowd. People were surrounding a set stage that was in the middle of the darkening city square, political banners and signs were being held up by the crowd. The people were chanting. 

“Scar! Scar! Scar! Scar!” 

The figure cocked their head to one side. This political crowd gathering was smaller than all the others they had seen. Last they had remembered, candidate Scar was near the bottom of the senate race. But Retro-Sun’s people obviously liked him. 

After a while of the people mildly chanting, another person walked onto the stage from the back and the crowd went feral. Cheering out and waving their banners and signs like it was the end of the world. 

The candidate, GoodTimesWithScar strolled up to the podium microphones, smiling like he was on an Idol show. He waved to the crowd, pointing out to people and flashing a bright, proud looking smile. He wore a nice looking light magenta colored vest with white sleeves and a red bow tie. Dark grey pants and black dress shoes accompanied the upper attire as the candidate himself sported many faint scars across his face- in compliance with his name and brown hair sat slicked back on his head. 

Scar raised his hands to slowly silence the crowd without muttering a word, which they followed obediently. With a clear of his throat, Scar spoke up. 

“Citizens of Retro-Sun, your day's of crying out for change are going to soon be over.” 

The winged figure standing on the roof tops heard the roar of the crowd ring out. The cheers and praises of the people below even reached their ears. 

“Your day's of staring up into a smog filled sky are going to come to an end. Your day's of wondering if there will be enough food on the table for your families will come to an end. Your big worries, your biggest concerns will become small ones.” Scar started, speaking clearly into the microphones. 

He continued. 

“The thoughts of Retro-Sun possibly collapsing economically shocked me when I first heard about it. I sat in my house looking to all the other Senator candidates to see if they were going to do something about it. I even emailed one of them and asked, ‘Hey, you’re promising all of these good things to all these other cities, what about Retro-Sun?’” 

Scar paused, taking a moment to breath and allowing the audience to soak up all the information and all the words he had just said to them. 

“They still haven’t responded… So that brings me to my first question. Who’s going to politically fight for the people of Retro-Sun? I know you already have an actual superhero fighting crime, but I’m talking politically. Who is going to be a proper representative for all the hard working men, women and children who attempt to keep their families afloat and keep a roof over their heads in the Senate?” 

Another pause. Only the sounds of banners being waved around rung out. 

“Who do you want to have as a representative for you? I know Reaction does a fine job keeping the streets clean of many crooks and criminals but can he fight the people who are dragging Retro-Sun through the dirt? He may not be able too, but I can. Now on that note… I’ll leave with one final question. Who do you want to represent you?” 

The figure listened as candidate Scar's crowd cheered once more. But above all the cheering they could hear someone else. 

"Shouldn't you be off rescuing a cat in a tree?" They questioned without turning around. 

"And shouldn't you be elsewhere other than spectating a political speech? Last time you said political speeches bored you." 

The winged person folded their wings in neatly against their back then stood straight and turned around to face the other speaker. "I could state the same reasoning towards you, Reaction. Last time  _ you  _ said you didn't  _ do _ night patrols. So what's so special about tonight?"

The Redstone hero stood with most of his gear powered down. Saved for the faint amounts of power that ran through the band that wrapped around the back of his head and over his forehead and his outfit that he had underneath all his redstone bits. Reaction's bright red eyes locked with the other persons, even though the other person wore a mask, he still somehow always found where their eyes were. "I need to ask a few questions, Watcher." 

Watcher, a neutral being that stalked everyone and everything with the silence and grace of a cat to its prey. Their powers were mostly unknown, though to underestimate their strength and intelligence would be the last thing someone would ever do. Reaction was also not afraid to admit that he and this Watcher had not been at the nicest terms with each other for awhile. Even now, they still silently forced themselves to remain a fair distance apart from each other. 

A mutual hate agreement. 

The Watcher, upon hearing Reaction's statement gave a chuckle and a smile broke their ever stoic facial expression. "Questions? What is this, an interrogation? That doesn't seem quite your style, Redstoner." 

A frown painted itself on Reaction's usually kind and joyful face. Wordlessly, Reaction snapped his fingers and popped up a red screen from his hand which illuminated both people in a red tinted light. "Are you in any way, shape or form associated with this symbol?" 

Watcher peered closely at the red screen. On the red screen was a very familiar symbol. The All Seer's Symbol. It had the Trinity Heads and Core Forces on it too. 

From behind their mask, the Watcher cocked one of their eyebrows up. "What makes you say I'm associated with this?" 

Reaction kept his hand out, then took his free hand's middle and thumb and put them both up to the red holo-screen, pinching them together. Then he quickly brushed them both apart, causing the red screen to zoom in towards the All Seer's middle head on the Trinity Heads. 

"That symbol is the same symbol that's practically glued to your entire being, Watcher. And I want to know more about it." Reaction stated firmly, practically shoving the image into the shorter person's face. "So how about you start sharing." 

The Watcher paused, before giving a dull sounding laugh. "The all mighty Reaction, asking me of all neutrals for assistance?" 

Reaction rolled his eyes, making the screen disappear. The two were once again emerced in the shadows as Reaction retorted back. "Don't get so full of yourself. I just need some information about this. Then you and I will once again go our separate ways. Understand?" 

"Whatever you say, Redstoner." 

-

"Candidate GoodTimesWithScar is in Retro-Sun tonight and it appears that he's gained the attention of many of the people. But only time will tell whether it's enough to affect the polling numbers. Back to you, Biffa." Reporter Cleo finished. 

News reporter Biffa2001 cleared his throat and gave a nod. "Thank you Cleo for that update. Now onto some other breaking news-” 

TFC tuned the t.v out at that point. All he wanted to hear was the election status of the Senate right now. Senator Scar seemed like a nice man and honestly, TFC wouldn’t mind a senator who could ask mind stumping questions that would force others to think for once. 

TFC leaned back further in his recliner chair and shut his eyes. He was comfortable under a nice heavy blanket, hoodie and beanie hat. The t.v was mostly background noise by now. And if he was being honest, if he could cocoon himself right then and there and never come out, that would be just fine. 

TFC swore he would’ve fallen asleep had a gentle hand not gone and placed itself on his shoulder. 

“Boulder… I think you should head to bed if you plan to fall asleep here in your chair.” 

TFC grumbled, wanting to shrink inward on himself. “Thought I told you to call me TFC, kid.” He mumbled, refusing to open his eyes. 

“And I thought I asked you to not call me a kid anymore.” 

TFC almost laughed at that. He opened his eyes and turned his head to his right, his white long hair falling over his face ever so slightly. His light blue eyes met with much darker and more energetic blue eyes. 

“You're a hoot, you know that xB? A real hoot.” TFC grouched. 

The brown haired man, xBCrafted, gave a light chuckle. “Yeah yeah, I know gramps. Now come on and get to bed, Xisuma and Joe are coming over to visit tomorrow and I’m sure you’ll want to be well rested. Even if those two are much more calm than some of the other new heroes out there.” 

TFC gave a heavy sigh before begrudgingly putting his recliner down. “Fine fine, I’m gettin’ goin’.” 


	9. Chapter 8 - Deduction and Observation

If the body be feeble, the mind will not be strong. -Thomas Jefferson. 

If the body be feeble then the mind cannot even begin to imagine what one could be like with more strength. The mind falls behind and the body simply becomes a speck of flesh in the universe to accompany it. But evolution was ever kind to its makings.

Some say it gifted those who were incredibly special. 

-

**Time Skip - Two Months Later**

Two months. Two months in since Iskall moved into this new house with Detective Grian and Mumbo as his flatmates- as the British called it. The system was called a flatshare, with a few participants sharing a place and helping with rent and bills and stuff. Or something like that, Iskall didn't exactly know. 

The medium sized house was nice. It had decent structure and it had four mini rooms and two larger rooms. Aka the kitchen and living room, then three bedrooms and one bigger bathroom. It wasn’t huge, but it was bigger than any apartment he ever had for a while now. 

For two months, the three of them had gotten situated pretty well. Sure they had their fair share of hiccups and stumbles but it wasn't all that bad. They got into a decent rythme for morning time, then it kinda went downhill as the day progressed but they were working it out. 

Their routine went something like this- 

Grian usually gets up first at around 7am and does whatever he does in the morning then starts coffee and tea. Grian hardly works at a consistent work schedule which he warned of before they first moved in. He takes cases and shows up at police murder scenes unexpectedly in stride and tells everyone's life story with such precision that it was almost unbelievable. Then Iskall was proven wrong one evening when Mumbo was still gone. 

Mumbo usually stumbles out of his room at about 7:45am and takes fifteen minutes to get ready, the goddamn speed demon. He’s done getting ready for the day at about 8:10am if he’s at his semi best health, otherwise it's at about 8:15. Then he’s stumbling out of the door at about 8:20 to go to an Industrial place called Sunn-Co Indust where they work on mechanical stuff or something. MJ didn't specify. 

After the walking disaster that is Mumbo Jumbo passes by, Iskall would finish out and get ready, or not even get into proper day attire at all since he only does “volunteer work” and other odd jobs during the day. Grian hasn’t been very convinced and claims that Iskall does nothing during the day hours. 

But that was it. That was their schedule. Was it weird that Iskall could pick any time on the clock and state exactly where Grian or Mumbo was at that moment with nearly a 85% chance of being right? Probably. But then again, they could also probably do the same to him so, there was no real challenge or competition. 

Living with Grian and Mumbo has also allowed Iskall to learn some of their more interesting quirks, habits and hobbies. 

Grian can bake, very well for a fact. He can sing, knows some cool card tricks, speaks a handful of different languages- including a bit of Swedish- he’s actually pretty muscular and he’s got a knack for drawing and doodling designs on papers and napkins. But that's all hobbies that Iskall picked out from seeing Grian actively doing those things and seeing him perform those actions. 

Some mini ticks that Iskall observed from Grian were- he scrunches his brow when he’s lying, his fingers twitch when he’s thinking deeply, he avoids eye contact when he doesn’t want to talk about something or when he wants the subject of a conversation to change and he always is seemingly tapping his fingers to  _ something.  _ Iskall doesn’t know if it's from a rhythm from one of his songs or what. 

Grian certainly was a more challenging person to read and figure out.  _ “He keeps all his cards close to his chest.”  _ As a fancy Englishmen would say. 

Mumbo on the other hand was the complete opposite. He was the easiest- if not  _ the  _ easiest person to read, in Iskall’s opinion. 

Mumbo does yoga, he can dance pretty well, he knows a fair amount of martial arts, he curses out at race car races that broadcast on the t.v and he knows how to do basic survival. Again, Iskall has seen him actively doing these hobbies and actions. 

For ticks, Iskall would literally have to make a dictionary.

Mumbo fidgets with his hands when he’s lying _ ,  _ he bounces to the balls of his feet when he’s excited, he always has an electric shock to give whenever he brushes against Grian or him or vice versa and he’s always jumpy whenever Grian or him come and place a hand on his shoulder from behind. It was funny for a little bit back when Iskall first met the guy, but now it's brought up it's fair share of speculation. 

Grian and Mumbo were both interesting people to say the least. They weren't average people either. They were intelligent, clever, witty. Stars, Etho must be absolutely rolling about at night just with the knowledge that these two aren't like any other normal assignment. 

-

Amber stood in wait in her jet. She was where she was asked to be and her caller still hasn't arrived. It'd been thirty minutes already and she was getting more and more impatient. Amber was just about to turn around and reboard her jet to leave when another voice called out to her. 

“Amber! Amber! We’re here, we’re here!” 

Amber turned her head up, her long blonde hair falling away from her eyeless, black mask. Floating down to the ground was her caller. The Admin and with him was another person. Most likely the person that he wanted to introduce her to. 

The hero crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re late. I was about to think this as one of your jokes.” 

The Admin chuckled, landing, also setting the other person down on the ground as well at his side. “This is no joke, trust me. This is real.” The Admin than turned his head to the second person. “Amber, meet our newest trainee.” 

The blonde haired hero turned her head to the second person. A second person who Amber recognized almost immediately. “Miss StressMonster.” 

Stress flinched at her name. Her head had dropped but she shyly looked back up at the other woman hero. “That's me…” She confirmed meekly. Stress looked tired. She had just come from a different time zone area and most likely just got out of prison custody. She was wearing dark blue jeans and a brown leather coat. Her hair looked messy and tangled and her lips were still a little blue. 

Amber observed over the shorter woman before turning her head back up to the Admin. “Another one of Reaction’s Recommendations that accepted his offer?” 

The Admin nodded. “Yes. Miss StressMonster has accepted the offer.” 

Stress gave a wordless nod in confirmation. 

Amber turned her head back to the shorter woman. “Very well. I’ll bring you to the Poet, Grav and Paladin, they’ll further show you the ropes when we get back to the H.Q. Admin, if you would be so kind as to telepathically contact them instead of radioing them this time, that would be great.” 

Only a split moment of hesitation went out before the three all turned and walked onto the jet in silence. The inside of the jet was weird. It was all black and grey with light blue and yellow accents to mark out tech pieces or something. At the front of course was the pilot and co pilot seat and then there were multiple seats with straps and handles to hold onto. 

The Admin led Stress over to one of the seats in the hold, helping her get properly strapped in before he walked over and did the same to himself in another passenger's seat. 

The jet hummed to life as Amber jump started it and got ready for a life off. 

Another pause. 

“Wait, you guys have an official H.Q?” 

-

Firestar grinned from ear to ear as he stared up at the old building. The building was a warehouse factory near the edge of Retro-Sun. This would absolutely gain the attention of his and his buddies' intended target. Firestar grinned back at his pal, Dubstep. “Well Dubs, do you think this place will work?” 

Dubstep continued to examine the exterior of the location. “I mean- it works for me. But will it work for Alchemist and Bolt? I don't wanna get on their bad sides.” The sonic hero cringed at the thought. 

Firestar gave a hearty laugh. “Oh Dubs! You know how to make a crook laugh! Of course it’ll work for them! Especially when the others get here!” 

The sonic villain frowned, looking at the flame user. “Others? Who are you referring to when you say others?” 

Firestar chuckled. “Oh come on Dubs! You think you're the only one with outside assistance and sources? I’m talking about Reaper, Radioactive, Jangler, Ice Emperor, Hound, Trickster and even Plague.” 

Dubstep visibly flinched at all the names. “All of them? Straight off the bat just like that?” The sonic villain snapped his fingers just to show emphasis. 

The flame user laughed once again before fully turning to Dubstep. “Yes! Those bastard heroes won't even know what hit them! If we can form the ultimate villain group before the heroes can form a hero one than we’ll all be unstoppable! Now come on, are you ready to make some noise?” 

Dubstep hesitated. The thought of one massive villain organization was splendid to think about but that kind of organization came with the warning of the superheroes all banding together to take them all down. Their empire would be destroyed. But oh stars was this feeling of early victory so tasty. 

Dubstep foolishly stated his response. “Oh absolutely.” 

-

Mumbo was lounging about in his house. Grian was making tea and Iskall was boringly watching the news. He himself was simply laying limply upside down on the sofa, feeling the blood slowly draining to his head. He’d probably pass out if he stood up too quickly but hey- he wasn't thinking about that right now. 

Mumbo continued to stare at the upside down tele when he heard his phone go off with a ding. The ding didn't seem to alarm Iskall or Grian in any way, so Mumbo went ahead and quietly looked at it to see what was up. 

Pushing on the power button, the black screen became lit with light. And a large red notification. 

“Warning! Break in at Sunn-Co Indust! Contact Local Authorities Immediately!” 

Mumbo felt his eyes go wide and in his state of panic, he summer salted backward off the couch and onto the floor with a thud and a yelp. His phone fell out of his hand and crashed onto the floor. His huge motion caused Iskall to shoot his head toward him and look down at him. 

“Dude you alright?” The Swede asked. 

Grian, who had been in the kitchen, walked out, looking at the Swede. “What happened?” He called out in question. 

Mumbo scrambled to his knees, quickly retrieving his phone from off the floor to hold it in his hands. “I-I-” Mumbo stuttered for words and he shakily got on wobbly feet. “-I- Listen I gotta go- there’s a situation that I gotta deal with.” Mumbo hasn't taken his eyes off the notification. He felt like his feet automatically brought him across the floor and over to his jacket to put it on. 

Grian trailed him from behind. “Mumbo? What's going on? What's happening? Mumbo!” 

Grian’s voice faded as Mumbo finished putting on his coat and bolted out the front door. MJ was pretty sure Iskall had also stood up sometime during that but he couldn’t wait to see for himself. He had a bigger problem on his hands. 


	10. Chapter 9 : Making Teams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeeeeeee- chapter beginnings go brrrrr- yeet-
> 
> Also this is a bit of a shorter chapter- Oops- hope you all still enjoy!

Are you scared of the dark? Does the thought of being sucked into an endless abyss of shadow strike you with fear? Does this passage concern you with how sentient it is- how real it is? Does this text make you feel as if you're being watched? Good. 

But-

Maybe you aren’t scared of this. Maybe you're one of those people who understands that fear is just the mind slowly changing to adapt and overcome. If you aren’t scared, then you're thinking the right things, you're believing in the correct things to understand that this is only text on your screen. 

You are just fine. 

“There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933 

-

The industrial factory was dark and quiet. No one was inside, meaning all night shift men must have fled the moment the alarms went off. 

A distress beacon had originally gone out, somewhat of an SOS to all police and other personnel but it had disappeared moments later. Of course, one could not just take a moment like that too lightly without sending at least one small team, or a single person to investigate. 

Corners of the shadows fled as a red light illuminated them, than faded as it got further away. The shadows returned to their places as soon as the light had passed. Faint hums of electricity and power filled the silence, a hum that Reaction was quite familiar with. 

Reaction walked with caution as he proceeded to go further into the industrial factory, his footsteps only making soft pats against the cement floor like a slipper to a stone tial. A bright red energy bow staff was clutched within the hero's hand as he gazed against the shadows and his own red light. 

The hero walked down a corridor, listening for any out of place ambiance the entire time. He couldn’t hear anything totally out of place, but it would be stupid to waltz in just because he hadn’t seen anything yet. 

Reaction eventually found his way to a bigger room in the factory. This room was completely open, meaning it might have still been under renovation, or in the process of being filled with machines and other human stations for building and testing. This room was also much darker than any of the others; the only real light now was Reaction’s red tinted glow from his tech and other gadgets. 

Reaction felt uneasy as he stopped where he was and remained still. Sucking in a quiet breath of air he held it, hearing only his heart in his ears. Seconds passed by. 

Suddenly taking his bow staff in both hands, Reaction whipped around and aimed his staff outwards so one end was sticking out and pointing dangerously close to  _ someone.  _

Standing behind the redstoner was a person wearing a worn, light purple robe that had yellow lines and accents to decorate it. Sitting on their head was a hat with the same color pallet. A black mask covered their face, letting their eyes glow orange in a single whole color- no pupils, no iris’. For pants they wore long white pants that had red polka dots littering them. 

Reaction stared at the person, trying to figure out if this person was going to attack him or not. "Who are you?" He questioned, not going out of his defensive position. He gripped his staff just a little bit more. 

The person in the light purple robe gave a grin. "I'm shocked you haven't heard of me, Reaction." The person exclaimed, almost sounding offended. 

Reaction took a steady breath, slowly turning so he was now fully facing his possible opponent. "My apologies for my lack of knowledge. Perhaps you'd further enlighten me on it?" 

The person cocked their head to the side, audibly humming in thought. “Logical speaker I see. Are you poetic?” 

A conversation starter? This person was trying to distract him from something. Reaction frowned, still trying to decide if he should continue this suspiciously passive small talk. “I… wouldn’t call myself Poet. Now answer this, what are you doing here in a factory?” 

The person chuckled, cupping their hands together in front of them. “Oh, your good ol’ friend Jangler simply heard there was gonna be a fun party here.” 

Confusion flooded Reaction’s brain. “Party?” This person, the Jangler, started to slowly circle around him. Bouncing on the balls of their feet as if they were a child. “What party?” 

Jangler circled the hero like a wolf stalking its prey. “Oh you haven’t heard about the party? I would’ve thought the others told you.” The Jangler put a single index finger and pushed it against their cheek like a child would do trying to act all cutesy. 

“The others?” 

The Jangler let out a laugh, waving their index finger around. “Oh! Well there is a party. And you're the special guest star.” 

Reaction’s eyes widened at that. He didn't even get a chance to react when his left side exploded with pain. His feet left the ground as he got thrown to the right and landed with a thud on his front. His bow staff had vanished when his grip on it diminished. 

The redstoner hissed in pain and his eyes naturally shut tightly, his whole body felt as if it had become paralyized with the strong sting of the after shock. He could hear more footsteps approaching, it sounded like they were coming from all directions around him. 

“Well look what the cat dragged in. Or should I say, look at what the Jangler dragged in?” A voice said, speaking out from the dark in a taunting tone. 

Harshly blinking away the tears that were in his eyes, Reaction managed to open his eyes partially and see some-what clearly. Now not only could Reaction see the Jangler, but he could see outlines of a lot of other people. 

The Lightning Thief, Alchemist, Dubstep, Reaper, Firestar, Radioactive, Hound. All of them were here. And he now just saw how deeply screwed he was. He was pretty much paralyized with no back up coming for him and he was terribly outnumbered. 

Reaction swallowed harshly, feeling his arms starting to tremble from the fading tingle of pain. But despite his situation Reaction couldn’t help but to smile, no matter how ungenuine the smile appeared from the villains’ perspective. 

“Gentlemen. . .” Reaction addressed as politely and confidently as he could. The redstone hero simply got cocky and scary smiles in return which almost caused him to shrink back. Only his will stopped him from doing so. 

“Always so polite, isn’t he Doc?” Dubstep said, turning his head to the other taller villain. 

Bolt flashed a toothy grin, his red eyes gleamed sharpy down at the hero who was struggling to hold himself up with his arms. “Sure is. Too bad that’ll be his downfall.” 

In a flash, Doc snapped his fingers and pointed at Firestar and Radioactive. “Grab him.” 

Reaction flinched, wincing when he felt two pairs of hands grab onto him and yank him up. He hissed out again in pain when Firestar’s hands brushed too closely on the sore on his left shoulder. The sharp jolt of pain immediately caused Reaction’s fight or flight mode to activate, causing him to start struggling against the two villains who had a hold of him. 

Radioactive gripped onto the hero, placing one hand on the hero’s bicep and placing the other on his shoulder. He then drew his hand down to Reaction's wrist and yanked the hero’s right arm back as he shot a wordless warning look at Firestar as if to say to back off. 

Firestar flinched, then let go of Reaction and backed up. Reaction went down again, this time on his knees. 

Reaction let out a strangled sound of pain, his already wounded left arm being roughly forced down onto the cement floor in an attempt to keep himself mostly upright. He felt as if his whole body was being drained of energy. 

Strangling a groan, a mean pull of his hair forced the hero to look up. 

Now crouched in front of him was Hound. The villain flashed his canine teeth at him. “Lights out hero.” He hissed. 

Reaction trembled where he was, sharply breathing in oxygen before pain blossomed at his head. Reaction felt his body suddenly collapse to the floor as Radioactive let go of him, then unconsciousness took him. 

-

“Tonight, the people of Retro-Sun are gathering once again in the city square not for a senator speech, but for a hero update. Two days ago police confirmed that Reaction sent a comm to them stating that he would be checking out the break in at Sunn-Co Indust. But now two days have passed and the hero is nowhere to be seen. Heroes from all sorts of different locations have begun to flood in. Including the Admin himself. More with you in minutes notice.” 

The t.v continued to ramble on but it was just white noise to Iskall and Grian. The two of them were standing in the kitchen with a bunch of papers spread out across the floor. It had been two days since Mumbo had run out. Two days had passed and Mumbo had still not returned. 

Iskall was pacing back and forth between the kitchen tiles and the carpet living room floor. A phone was in his hand and he was talking angrily in Swedish. 

Grian on the other hand, was quietly crouched down at the bottom of lines of papers that were spread out on the floor. Observing and thinking quietly to himself. He was only slightly picking up what Iskall was talking about, but from his perspective, it seemed like the other person on the other end of the line was getting defensive. 

Finally, after about five minutes of Iskall arguing with someone on the phone in Swedish, he swapped back to English. “Damn it Etho, if you fucking grabbed him, know that I’m coming for your head!” Iskall threatened. 

Grian turned his head up at that. He gave the Swede a look, watching as the taller man ended the call and held himself back from throwing the thing at the wall or slamming it down to hard on the kitchen counter. 

“One of your colleges?” Grian questioned in his usual stoic and neutral sounding detective voice. 

Iskall grumbled before forcing himself to place his phone down on the counter with a little more care than he originally intended to. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, facing away from the shorter man. “Yes. You could say that. But we’re far from friends. Practically enemies if I must admit.” 

Grian took a deep breath, rising from his crouched position. “Care to enlighten me?” 

The Swede hesitated before sighing in defeat. “Ethoslab. Highly experienced assassin. He and I were at odds with each other after I went rogue by not killing MJ by my deadline. He was assigned to kill MJ and me but... two overpowers one in the end.” Iskall grumbled, averting his eyes from the detective’s piercing gaze. 

Grian’s eyes wandered from Iskall to the T.V. “Especially when those two people have wacky experiences and other insane abilities.” 

The Swede’s eyes also traveled over to the T.V screen. The news was showing a picture of Reaction. “Yeah, especially to that.” 


	11. Chapter 10 : Poor Planning 101

“Fucking- god damnit! Doc you bastard! Get off your ass and give us a hand!” Dubstep shouted. The tugging against the metal chains continued. Screaming accompanied said tugging as Dub’s gritted his teeth and strained against their prisoner. Stars, how some random ass civilian hadn’t found them yet was a miracle all by itself. 

Doc simply remained leaning against the wall he was by. His arms were crossed over his chest as he watched Dubstep, Trickster, Jangler and Hound continue to counter pull against their struggling prisoner. 

Their prisoner, Reaction, had cuffs that completely concealed his hands within them that went up a little past his wrists. The chain itself was reinforced at both the top of the cuffs and circled the prisoner’s wrists on each cuff. Reaction himself seemed  _ really  _ unhappy. 

Doc laughed as he watched Firestar take an electric red shock from the hero for about the dozenth time or so. Firestar had been trying to grab hold of the hero to try and place the last piece of holding equipment on him.

That piece would lock and hook around from behind and lock at the front, going over the shoulders and under the arms. Sort of like a helicopter harness, except made of electricity absorbing metal that would prevent Reaction from destroying it with his energy. The cuffs were made of the same material for the same purpose. 

Firestar fell back on the floor, groaning out through gritted teeth. He shut his eyes before forcing himself to sit back up. He shot a death glare at Bolt. “Shut your ass! You haven’t even been helping us.” He hissed, bringing himself to rise once again to his feet and dust himself off. 

Bolt grinned a toothy grin before shaking his head and letting out another few heavy laughs. “Sorry, got caught up.” 

“Yeah! Caught up laughing at us! Now are you gonna give us a hand or what?” Jangler commented, sounding annoyed. He didn't even dare turn his head away from the prisoner out of fear of losing a hold of the chain that he had had in his grip for nearly an hour already. 

Doc gave a half-assed sounding sigh before finally standing off the wall and striding over to Hound and Trickster. Taking hold of their side of the chain, he used both hands and then gave the chain a harsh yank. 

Reaction- who had been greatly gaining some sort of ground against the original two- immediately stumbled and let out a yelp of pain at the sudden motion. His shoulder most likely took the brunt of the pull. 

Jangler and Dubstep both stumbled forwards but they still managed to remain upright. 

Doc smirked, watching as the hero struggled against him with little success. "Hound. Trickster. Go over to the other side and give the other two a hand." He ordered tauntingly without turning his head. 

Trickster and Hound both did as they were ordered; going over to Dubstep's and Jangler's side and taking hold of their chain. 

Reaction was suddenly completely overpowered. He was straining against five people now and struggling against four people already was exhausting. Reaction suddenly felt himself fall to his knees breathing heavily for air. His throat hurt from screaming for so long and he felt like absolute hell. 

"Tired hero?" 

Reaction breathed heavily, his fists clenching painfully within the cuffs as he turned his head up again. “You all wish.” 

Reaction strained to his feet as Firestar went for him again. 

-

Camera lights flashed in every direction causing TFC to be blinded by them. He grouched under his breath as he stalked past the paparazzi and photographers with xB at his side. His hands were stuffed inside his hoodie 

Now this was one main reason why TFC didn't go out anymore; why he did his own things such as farming and repairs. It was because of the media. Even when he was young and active as the Boulder, TFC wasn't very fond of the media as some of the newer heroes have been. The media was just another obstacle that made a hero’s job harder than it had to be. So to have younger heroes suddenly being immersed in the media was kind of foregin to him. 

TFC stuck close to xB as they neared Retro-Sun’s city hall to meet with some people. Those people were some of the heroes that had begun to flock into the city to fill the empty hero space that Reaction left when he disappeared. 

The two quickly went inside the building and collectively breathed a breath of relief once they mostly escaped the eyes of the photographers. 

The interior of city hall was crafted of white marble and smoothed out quartz. Giant pillars extended upwards and held the ceiling while statues of figures decorated the otherwise empty space in between them. Sky lights dotted the ceiling just above the long hallway towards the mayor’s office and floor lights spanned across the floors, illuminating everything in sight. 

xB visibly squinted to passively shield his eyes. “Wow, isn't this a sight.” He commented, turning his head to the older man. 

TFC turned his head down to the floor, letting out a gruff mumble of acknowledgement. “Yeah… They sure know how to ruin the visual sense of people who are already light sensitive.” 

“Don't be such an old man T.” 

TFC grumbled as he started to make his way towards the mayor’s office. “”I'll be an old man whenever the hell I feel like it.” 

“And that's right now?” xB questioned, following TFC. 

“You bet your ass, kid.” 

The two continued to walk until they came up to two very large, and very opened doors; that allowed the different floor styles to meet like the ocean and the beach. Multiple voices could be heard as xB and TFC neared. 

-

Frost anxiously fiddled with her fingers as she listened to Admin state off the police report. There were people who she didn't quite know yet and that alone made her tense up, but at that moment, she was quite comfortable with just keeping her mouth shut. 

“That next morning, police attempted to contact Reaction again with little success. Finally, when they sent a team down to the factory they found nobody. That's when we all got informed.” Admin finished. 

Amber, who was standing between two other heroes, aka Poet and Paladin- raised her hand. “The factory, Sunn-Co Indust. That was the final place Reaction was when his location got jammed off? Correct?" 

Frost watched Admin give a nod. "Yes, that is confirmed. And that brings me to our first suggested action-" 

The Admin suddenly stopped. His head turned to the two open doors. That caused all the other heroes to also turn their attention to the doors, including Frost's. 

Standing just outside the mayor's office were two people. An elderly looking man with white hair and a beard wearing a grey hoodie with blue jeans. Standing next to the old man was a much younger man with brown hair and beard wearing a white shirt underneath a dark blue sweatshirt. 

"TFC, xB. I'm so glad you could finally join us." Admin finally proclaimed, speaking against the small silence that had followed a couple seconds after Admin had originally stopped speaking. "Please, come in." 

Frost watched the two make their way further into the room. She knew that she recognized the older man but she couldn't quite put a name to a face. 

"You guys called or something?" The old man questioned in a gruff tone, his face somewhat appearing to relax then tense up again. 

One of the heroes that Frost had met- the Poet- stepped up to the two civilian looking people. "Indeed we did, we need-" 

"Ah! Don't discuss further! I have two more people that are going to help!" 

Everyone's heads turned once again to the two doors. Quickly coming up, followed by two other people was none other than the mayor of Retro-Sun himself. Mayor Michael Vick. 

Michael was a short and plump man with brown hair and a maroon suit. The two people that had come up with the mayor made Frost's heart stop momentarily. She knew those two people. 

Detective Grian Xelqua and Iskall… someone. They were the two that had shot her when she was out of control. 

Subconsciously, Frost drew one of her arms up and covered an area up near her collarbone. The shots had hurt a lot but the paramedics on sight were relatively nice. 

"Detective Grian Xelqua of Northwind. With me is my partner Iskall who will be helping us attempt to uncover anything we can." Grian proclaimed; getting straight to the topic once again. 

Admin spoke up next as the room shifted with anticipation. "We'll be happy to have you both join us." 

Grian gave a mild frown, as if to wave off the friendly comment. "Enough with the formalities. We must hurry to the crime scene." 

Then without another word, the detective headed out, forcing everyone else to follow without a proper game plan. Much to the Admin's protest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eugofkfid- Slower chapter- I'm sorry it took me so long, oh well. 
> 
> I'm going through the painfully slow process of getting plot from point A to point B without rushing the story but my mind wants to go s p e e d


End file.
